With the increased emphasis on the harmful affects of prolonged exposure to UV radiation from the sun, many products have been developed for providing shading particularly for the face and head region of persons sitting or reclining in outdoor furniture.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,030,748 describes a sun shade for use on a lounge chair which is a piece of flexible plastic of a length greater than the width of the chair attached to clamping brackets clamped onto the sides of the chair such that the sheet may be pivoted to many different positions.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,096,257 is directed to an easily assembled, dismantled and transported sun shade having a U-shaped rigid frame supporting a fabric cover and two support arms attachable to a chair with common clamps. The supporting structure for the sun shade is easily dismountable and is also adjustable for length of the sun shade portion, height of the sun shade from the chair and angle of the sun shade portion.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,013,085 describes a sun shade canopy for attachment to a tubular chair having an adjustable clamping mechanism for attachment to the chair which utilizes mating serrated pieces and a spring bias such that the mated pieces may be pulled away from one another against the biasing of the spring, the canopy rotated to a desired position and then the spring biases the mating serrated surfaces together to securely hold the canopy in the desired position. The canopy is permanently attached to the vertical support rod and the vertical support rods are in turn permanently attached to the clamping mechanism.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,865,381 describes a canopy for attachment to, for example, a lawn chair having means for adjustment of the angle of the canopy separate from the means for clamping the canopy directly to the lounge chair. The frame includes two U-shaped members, one for clamping to the lounge chair and another for supporting the canopy, and side arms pivotally mounted between the two U-shaped members.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,990 describes a sun shade for attachment to an infant chair and, in particular, the clamp which is used to attach the shade to the chair, the clamp having a recess for receiving the head of a bolt and holding the bolt in position so that a wing nut may be tightened down to clamp the apparatus to the chair. The patent also describes that the shade has adjustments using mated serrated surfaces for adjustment of the angle of the sun shade.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,201,416 describes a canopy for outdoor chairs and, in particular, a clamp for clamping the canopy such that the canopy could not fall down on top of the user. The clamp has a stop against which the extending arm of the canopy rests to prevent the canopy from falling further forward.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,230,363 describes a similar type canopy but has a different clamping means which is adapted to fit over a stiffening rod extending between the uprights of the chair back. As a result of the structure of the clamp the side supports for the canopy are in direct alignment with the tubular frame of the chair. The canopy therefore cannot be folded completely over the back of the chair.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,293,162 describes a sun shade for use with an infant's seat, the sun shade being attached to the infant's seat through a clamp attached to the back of the infant's seat. The sun shade provides for multiple angular adjustment of the sun shade through the provision of vertical adjustment of the vertical support through the clamp which attaches the shade to the back of the chair, angular adjustment between the horizontal and vertical supports and a ball and socket arrangement at the end of the horizontal support for attachment to the sun shade frame. The sun shade frame can slide back and forth on the ball and socket assembly and the ball and socket assembly provides for an infinite variety of pivoting adjustments.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,093,305 describes a sun shade for attachment to the back of a chair where the sun shade frame may be folded down with the chair. The sun shade frame has three U-shaped members which are attached to a clamp for clamping to the side of the chair by means of a bolt arrangement. These three U-shaped members may be spread apart to extend the sun shade in its shielding position.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,639,036 describes a sun shade which is easily attachable to the chair through a biased clamp either a biased roller arrangement where the rollers ride over the tubular section of the chair and then hold the tubular section between rollers and the base plate or a spring biased jaw clamp where the clamp has two side engaging members which are spring biased spread apart and then allowed to engage the sides of the tubular member with the spring biasing holds the two members together.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,300,798 describes a sun shade for attachment to a chair using a rather complicated clamping arrangement and providing for some adjustment up and down by means of the vertical post and can be flipped over to be out of the way.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,738,703 describes a sun shade which is easily mountable and demountable on the backrest of a foldable chair as the sun shade frame has an opening which simply rests over the top of the back of the chair.